December 2009 - Parks & Recreation - 50

48 Parks & Recreation

DECEMBER 2009

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tire can get 50,000 miles on it with high temperatures, gravel roads, at high speeds, " he explains.
" And only then does it start to break down. Do you
think kids playing on a playground are going to do
that much damage to rubber? No. That product is
going to last years. "
Sacks says that in addition to providing a safe
product, his company Rubberecycle is actually
helping, not harming, the environment. " The rubber industry has done great things for the environment-years ago there were more than a billion
tires in landfills. Now we are down to a few million, "
he says. " But instead, we are getting attacked and
up until now, we have done a bad job refuting these
claims, but they are just not true. "
He too, has small children who play on rubber
mulch at a home playground, as well as at school. " If
I thought for one second that it was harmful, I would
remove it from my home, " he says. " The White
House, like my house, has done their due diligence,
and has said it is safe. They are very happy with
rubber mulch and so are all of our clients. "
So where does that leave the park and recreation
manager struggling to make a surfacing decision?
" If any organization has viable data saying that a
playground product is unsafe, IPEMA will be the
first to review it, " Ahern says. " Until then, we have
to go with what is available, and the many reports
we have seen show that rubber mulch is safe. I think
each individual has to decide what type of surfacing
is right for that particular facility. "
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evidence to show that rubber mulch is unsafe. Until
we do, we'll support it. "
Ahern's personal opinion is that much of the
swirling controversy over the product is about
fear, which isn't good for parents or park and recreation managers faced with making decisions on
a variety of products. He thinks that " a lot of conclusions are being made from 'could, maybe, and
possibly.' "
" Trust me - if there was information that a playground product causes cancer, IPEMA would be all
over that and I can say that I would be looking into
it because I have a child that does have cancer, "
Ahern explains. " But these groups are just extrapolating information from data that isn't there. "
Keith Sacks, vice president of Rubberecycle,
agrees that these claims are false, and even points
to states like California and Kentucky that give
grants to municipalities and organizations that use
rubber mulch. When asked about specifics in the
EHHI report that show dangerous gasses are emitted from the product, Sacks explains that everything
gives off gasses, and the data is misleading. " I am
sitting at my desk in front of a laptop computer and
a plastic water bottle, " he says. " Everything that is
made of plastic gives off some type of gas. A child
standing on asphalt waiting for the bus is breathing
in more gasses than they'd have on a playground
with rubber mulch. "
He also asks why, if tires are deemed to be toxic, are they on every vehicle made in the world? " A

December 2009 - Parks & Recreation

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